Gratitude.

You ever get e-mail or a letter with the closing that says: "Regards" ?

Like: ?

Hi Floyd,

yada yada yada yada

so on and so forth

etc. etc.
etc.

Regards,

J. Fred Muggs.

I guess I don't mind getting that kind of closure from a business associate or somebody that I am not familiar with. But I kinda get insulted when it is from somebody with which I am familiar, like my ex-wife or my sister or somebody like that.

The closing kind of indicates the space between you and the sender. With a business associate the level of familiarity is pretty distant, unless you are friends outside of work. However, with somebody like your ex-spouse, the closing of regards might be used in situations where the two of you have not spoken in years or the two of you are in hostile litigation with each other. The other. Being as thin skinned as I am, if I were to get a closure of "regards" from say my ex I would take it as a message of coldness as in I you are nothing more than an "entity" in my life you are not really a person I know or I even want to know.

I am soooo grateful that I have nothing more to bitch about than something so freaking trivial as somebody putting "regards" at the end of their letter or e-mail. This didn't even happen to me. It happened to my sister with her daughter. I will bet she (my sister did not even notice it.) I guess my life is going really well now. I am really grateful!

Regards,

Floyd